Recently, due to effect of global warming, the air conditioner has been used longer. Also, by an increase of a facade glass area, an increase of office automation (OA) apparatuses, and by a high demand for indoor comfort, energy consumption for cooling, has continuously increased. Accordingly, there is a growing demand for solar radiation protection through exterior materials, more particularly, windows. This phenomenon occurs especially at most high-rise buildings.
A double-skin window system has been disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1010203 on Jan. 17, 2011, in which a hollow layer is formed inside the double-skin window, and a window shade or a blind is provided in the hollow layer to control an incidence of solar heat.
Also, since the hollow layer has a structure able to be naturally ventilated, it is possible to discharge the heat of the hollow layer due to the solar radiation to the outside, thereby contributing to a load reduction in cooling a room.
However, when the window shade is installed in the hollow layer, a width of the hollow layer increases, and accordingly, a thickness of the double-skin also increases. This causes a construction cost to increase more than twice as much compared to a single-skin window system.
In addition, in the conventional double-skin window system, maintenance of the window shade or the blind is not easy because the window shade or the blind is installed inside the hollow layer.
Conventionally, the double-skin window system requires a separate apparatus having a power-driven device in order to ideally operate the window shade or the blind in accordance with a season. If the window shade or the blind is operated manually without a power transmission device, the double-skin window system may be operated unreasonably in terms of energy and comfort aspects, and out of season since the user does not sufficiently know an operation and a mechanism of the double-skin window system.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a window system able to block solar radiation without installing a window shade or a blind.
An amount of light transmitted through an inner glass increases when the light is in a form of light. Considering this, in embodiments of the invention, light is converted into heat by an outer glass having a high absorption rate, and the heat is blocked by an inner glass having a high heat insulating performance, to thereby effectively block solar radiation.
It is another object of the invention to provide a window system for blocking solar radiation with a simple structure and a slim structure, having a small thickness of an entire window system and a small thickness of an entire glass.
A transmittance of solar radiation is kept the same and thus, an indoor illumination is the same, but solar radiation heat can be blocked more, by about 30% or more, in the window system according to embodiments of the present invention compared with a conventional window system having the same glass.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a window system in which maintenance of a window shade or a blind is not required.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a window system capable of performing the above various functions.
A window system according to an embodiment of the invention made to achieve the above objects includes: a window frame; an inner window installed at an indoor side of the window frame; an outer window fixed to the window frame and spaced apart from the inner window within a predetermined distance at an outdoor side to form a hollow layer between the outer window and the inner window; an air-flowing opening formed between the outer window and the window frame to form a flow path in which air in the hollow layer flows or circulates; and an opening and closing device provided at one side of the inner window to open and close the inner window from the window frame. The outer window may include a tinted glass and a bracket for fixing the tinted glass to the window frame.
The air-flowing opening may include an air-supplying opening formed between a lower end of the window frame and a lower end of the outer window, so that air is supplied from an outside, and an air-discharging opening formed between an upper end of the window frame and an upper end of the outer window, to discharge the air introduced into the hollow layer through the air-supplying opening.
Normally, the air-supplying opening and the air-discharging opening may be configured to be open at all times. However, if it is necessary to further improve an insulation performance of the window system, or if it is necessary to cope with dusty outdoor conditions, the air-supplying opening and the air-discharging opening may be provided with an opening and closing frame for opening and closing the air-supplying opening and the air-discharging opening, as necessary.
The opening and closing frame may include a first frame installed at the outer window; a second frame installed at the inner window or the window frame; a support member provided between the first frame and the second frame to prevent sagging of the second frame; finishing members, each provided at both ends of the first frame and the second frame and coupled to both ends of the first frame and both ends of the second frame; and a filter screen disposed between the first frame and the second frame and extending along a longitudinal direction of the air-flowing openings, to prevent dust or foreign matter from flowing into the hollow layer through the air-flowing openings.
The window system may further include a cover provided at a front side of the filter screen to prevent air from flowing or circulating in the hollow layer through the air-flowing openings.
The opening and closing device may include a first coupling member, including a first coupling portion coupled to the window frame and a first connecting portion extending from the first coupling portion; a second coupling member including a second coupling portion coupled to an end of the inner window and a second connecting portion extending from the second coupling portion and being connected to the first coupling portion; and a rotating shaft coupled to the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion to rotate the second coupling member with respect to the first coupling member.
The inner window may include a pair glass; and a pair-glass frame to which the pair glass is fixed. The pair glass may include a first glass; and a second glass being spaced apart from the first glass by a predetermined distance and being a low-e coated glass. The better the heat insulating performance of the glass applied to the inner window, the greater the effect of controlling the solar radiation.
The outer window may be made of a single glass or a laminated glass. For the outer window, at least one of a transparent glass having a high absorption rate, a tinted glass having a slightly low transmittance and having a blue or green color, or a transmittance-controlling glass which transmittance can be controlled may be applied. When the tinted glass is applied, an absorption rate of the front portion is increased and a solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of a front portion can be further lowered. Especially, when the transmittance-controlling glass is applied, a solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) can be further reduced.
Also, a window system according to another aspect of the invention includes: a window frame; an inner window installed at an indoor side of the window frame; an outer window fixed to the inner window and spaced apart from the inner window with a predetermined distance at an outdoor side to form a hollow layer between the outer window and the inner window; an air-flowing opening formed between the outer window and the window frame to form a flow path in which air in the hollow layer flows or circulates; and an opening and closing device provided at one side of the inner window to open and close the inner window and the outer window from the window frame at the same time. The outer window may include a tinted glass, a tinted-glass frame to which the tinted glass is fixed and being coupled to the inner window, and a frame cover for covering a part of the tinted-glass frame.
The air-flowing openings may include an air-supplying opening formed between a lower end of the window frame and a lower end of the outer window so that air is supplied from an outside, and an air-discharging opening formed between an upper end of the window frame and an upper end of the outer window to discharge the air introduced into the hollow layer through the air-supplying opening.
If it is necessary to further improve an insulation performance of the window system or if it is necessary to cope with dusty outdoor conditions, the air-supplying opening and the air-discharging opening may be provided with an opening and closing frame for opening and closing the air-supplying opening and the air-discharging openins.
The opening and closing frame may include a first frame installed at the outer window; a second frame installed at the inner window or the window frame; a support member provided between the first frame and the second frame to prevent sagging of the second frame; finishing members, each provided at both ends of the first frame and the second frame, and coupled to the both ends of the first frame and the both ends of the second frame; and a filter screen disposed between the first frame and the second frame and extending along a longitudinal direction of the air-flowing openings to prevent dust or foreign matter from flowing into the hollow layer through the air-flowing openings.
The window system may further include a cover provided at a front side of the filter screen to prevent air from flowing or circulating in the hollow layer through the air-flowing openings.
The opening and closing device may include a first coupling member including a first coupling portion coupled to the window frame and a first connecting portion extending from the first coupling portion; a second coupling member including a second coupling portion coupled to an end of the inner window and a second connecting portion extending from the second coupling portion and being connected to the first coupling portion; and a rotating shaft coupled to the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion to rotate the second coupling member with respect to the first coupling member.
The tinted-glass frame may include: a fixing portion to which the tinted glass is fixed; and an inner-window coupling portion, wherein one surface of the inner-window coupling portion facing or being in contact with the inner window to be coupled to the inner window.
For the outer window, a transparent glass having a high absorption rate or a tinted glass having a blue or green color may be applied.
According to a window system according to the invention, solar radiation heat can be blocked without installing a window shade or a blind at an outside or a hollow layer, thereby reducing cooling load in summer.
A transmittance of solar radiation is kept the same and thus an indoor illumination is the same, but solar radiation heat can be blocked more by about 30% or more in the window system according to embodiments of the invention, compared with a conventional window system having the same glass.
Also, since a window shade or a blind is not installed, a structure of the window system can be simple, and the window system can be slim to have a small thickness.
In addition, since a window shade or a blind is not installed, maintenance of the window shade or the blind is not necessary and thus the maintenance cost can be reduced.